Horse, jockey and trainer stood with a fleet of owners and other connections, posing for a photo and holding the 2018 Kentucky Oaks trophy for champion Monomoy Girl. The trainer, Brad Cox, had waited years for this moment. But it was not complete.

“Go to Dad!” someone yelled in the background Friday at Churchill Downs.

Brodie Cox, Brad’s 2 1/2-year old son, wore a gray vest and pants and carried a single lily. He ambled toward the crowd, turned and faced the camera. He stood in front of his father, two blocks from Brad’s childhood home, as the trainer basked in the biggest win of his career. The boy smiled.

All week, Cox was stoic. He said Tuesday that Monomoy Girl’s gallop was “fantastic,” and again Wednesday that it was “fantastic,” and that he was ready for Friday to arrive. He spoke with his head down.

Flanked in the winner’s circle by the filly’s owners, Michael Dubb and representatives from Monomoy Stables, The Elkstone Group and Bethlehem Stables, he maintained composure, smiling and shaking hands.

When he arrived to the news conference with jockey Florent Geroux, a track official pointed them to the video replay on the wall.

“I think I know the outcome,” Geroux said, but he watched it anyway. Cox did, too.

Four weeks ago at Keeneland, Monomoy Girl won the Ashland Stakes to give Cox his first Grade 1 stakes win. Cox thought that achievement would happen years ago.

But he trained a horse who ran second in a Derby undercard race in 2009, and another who lost by a nose in 2016, and he questioned whether he would ever have another chance.

“We were kind of starting to wonder if we were cursed,” Cox said last month.

He was not, and he did not have to wait as long for another win. But of course, this one wasn’t easy.

Monomoy Girl was a 2-1 favorite on the morning line despite drawing the far outside No. 14 position. Only one filly, Lemons Forever in 2006, had won the Oaks from that spot. Reporters asked Cox all week how he would handle it. Monomoy Girl ran just as planned.

The filly broke well from the gate, turning inside and landing three-wide by the first turn. The favorite at post time, Midnight Bisou, took a bump out of the gate and was not a factor.

Monomoy Girl led entering the second turn and earned good position for most of the race. But in the final stretch, Geroux noticed the filly’s ears flap back and forth. A contender was approaching. Wonder Gadot, a 16-1 long shot, took the lead.

“Yes, I was concerned,” Cox said with a wry smile, still watching the replay on TV.

But in one of the most difficult wins of her career, Monomoy Girl summoned a last bit of speed. The two horses brushed against each other, causing Wonder Gadot jockey John Velazquez to lodge an objection (the result remained unchanged). Monomoy Girl won by a half-length.

They had suffered defeats, too, Cox’s two close runner-up finishes in Grade 1 races and Geroux’s third place in the Oaks three years ago. They said they thought they had the fastest filly this year, but they knew they could not be sure.

“You don’t get many opportunities at races like this,” Cox said this week. “Even Grade 1s, when you do run second in one, you’re like, ‘It might be six months before you get another one.’ It’s not as if they run these things every weekend, or you even have an opportunity every month.”

When the win came, and it sank in, a moderator asked Cox what the win meant. A co-owner to his right set 2-1 odds that the trainer would cry. He would have cashed in on his bet.

“I’m already thinking about the next race,” Cox said. The catch in his throat and the glance at the TV betrayed him. “It’s been an unbelievable ride with this filly.”